Toppling tradition
What exactly is whisky? Why hasn't anyone in Taiwan made it before?
Roughly speaking, distilled spirits made from fruits are brandies, while those made from grains are whiskies. Broken down by color, red wines are maroon, while gaoliang, maotai and other "white" spirits are transparent. Whisky too is colorless when first distilled. It's the aging in oak casks that gives it its rich golden-amber color.
Whisky originated in Ireland and Scotland, which have a boreal climate. Subtropical Taiwan, on the other hand, is more known for its production of Taiwan Beer and Kinmen gaoliang, which acquire their unique flavor profiles from the imported barley, Penglai rice, and Kinmen sorghum used in their production. Because King Car was the first company to attempt to make whisky locally, it had to start entirely from scratch in terms of ingredients, facilities, and techniques.
"Just because something hasn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done at all," says Andy Chang, who was involved in the process from day one. He notes that King Car achieved success three years after beginning test production in 2006. In so doing, it turned the conventional wisdom that "good whisky can only be made in boreal climates" on its head. (While Thailand also makes whisky, its quality is poor.)
Before starting construction, King Car personnel made numerous trips to distilleries in Japan, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, the US, and England to glean what they could. The company imported barley malt from Scotland, acquired its distilling equipment from a Scottish provider of turnkey solutions, and assigned personnel to study with well known distillers. But everything they learned had to be tested in Taiwan to see how it would be affected by the local climate and conditions.
King Car's first efforts were less than ideal.
One problem was that the consultants brought in from Scotland lacked experience distilling whisky in tropical climates. Consequently, they had trouble aging the whisky in Yilan, where the mean annual temperature is 25oC and the humidity is 70-80%. The company then hired Dr. Jim Swan, an expert in the maturation of spirits with a background in chemistry and biology. Swan spent seven months testing and tweaking before settling on an approach appropriate to Yilan's climate.
The trick turned out to be in the oak barrels. "Whisky's fickle flavor is dependent upon the oak casks in which it is aged," explains Ma, explaining the company's "cask strategy."
King Car uses two kinds of oak barrels-large 500-liter sherry casks imported from Spain and smaller 200-liter bourbon casks imported from the US. "The differences in size and point of origin create differences in the flavor of the mature whiskies," says Ma.
The two casks are made of different materials and have very different prices. Sherry casks, which are in short supply, are expensive, costing roughly NT$35,000 each. Bourbon butts cost just NT$3,000-4,000 apiece. Whereas sherry casks impart grape flavors to the whiskies aged in them, bourbon butts flavor whiskies with hints of coconut. These retained flavors make older casks even more valuable than newer ones. King Car sends buyers to Spain and the US every year to acquire replacements, though selecting them is something of an art.
Good setting, water, and spirits
"The cold climates of boreal nations allow spirits to 'hibernate' in their casks," says Ian Chang. "Because the chemical reactions occur so slowly, their whiskies take more than a decade to mature. Yilan's excellent water, and its large variations in temperature and humidity speed up and intensify the chemical reactions. As a result, our spirits mature quickly in their casks." He adds that King Car has earned global respect for producing a two-year-old whisky that matches the quality of 10-year-old Scotch whiskies.
Lin Yifeng, owner of the well known Whisky Master website, calls Kavalan whisky a "prodigy." But he adds that rapidly matured whiskies do have a flaw. "Because they don't interact with the cask for very long, they aren't as smooth, complex, or refined as whiskies from abroad that have aged for a decade or more. They still lag a little behind," says Lin.
It's hard to beat history, and hundred-year-old distilleries have quite a head start. King Car is using its "cask strategy" to try to close the gap and has certainly made a splash with its first efforts.
Choosing which part of the distillation run to use is another key factor in the quality of a whisky. Andy Chang says that when King Car branched out into the production of distilled spirits, company chairman Lee Tien-tsai argued: "Drinking spirits is a pleasurable activity. People shouldn't have to suffer side effects," and insisted that the distillery do its utmost to eliminate the compounds that cause headaches and hangovers. King Car therefore uses only 10% of the second distillation, virtually the heart of the heart of the run, to make its whiskies. Though this spirit has an alcohol content of 76% (versus 70% for foreign whiskies), it is less likely to leave tipplers with a hangover.
Chang stresses that King Car Kavalan is produced from a single variety of malt, that no man-made ingredients are introduced during the production process, and that no spirits from other facilities are blended into it. The company's aim is to offer its single malts as an exemplar of Taiwanese refinement.
Whisky's new homeland
King Car chose Kavalan to be the center of production for Taiwanese whisky in part because Lee Tien-tsai hails from Yilan and in part because the excellent waters from the Central and Xueshan ranges, the mountain breezes, and the damp Pacific air impart a wonderful character to the whisky.
"Just as foreigners who reside in Taiwan come to love this land," says Ma, "whisky will adopt Yilan as its new homeland." He argues that though whisky is not a part of Taiwan's traditional culture, it should do very well here. After all, no one anticipated that cafes would become ubiquitous back when King Car first began producing canned coffees here 25 years ago.
The distillery has become popular more quickly than King Car anticipated, and the company is already at work expanding its parking lots and covered walkways to accommodate more visitors. "We want everyone to understand how conscientious we are being with regard to Yilan, the environment, and Taiwan," says Ma.
In March, King Car will also begin offering a coffee liqueur aimed at young women, introducing Taiwan to a flavor it had previously known only in song.